The imperfectionists was the debut by Tom Rachman and it is set in Rome in
the offices of an English newspaper. The paper was published first in the
fifties by American businessman Cyrus Ott, but nowadays his grandson Olivier is
more concerned with his dog Schoppenhauer who he reads The hound of the Baskervilles
to.
Each
chapter gives you some insight in the life of one of the employees of the
newspaper. Ruby, who desperately wants to stay with the paper, although she
thinks everybody is in a complot against her and Lloyd, the correspondent in
Paris who is clinging on to his job and even uses his own son as an informer,
with enormous consequences. The story of Winston Cheung, the young
correspondent in Cairo is hilarious, Winston has no clue and when an
experienced war correspondent arrives in Cairo, he manages to take over
Winston’s life completely.
The
different stories overlap and intertwine and together they weave a pattern of
life at the newspaper, seen from different perspectives and moments. Sometimes they
are tragical, sometimes embarrassing and sometimes hilarious. Each person
muddles through life, makes decisions and has to live with the consequences.
Some time
ago I read The decline and fall of great
powers and I was very curious to read Tom
Rachman’s first book. I was pleasantly surprised by it, because I was not
sure if I would like it, since I loved Great powers and this book was so
completely different.
Different
yes, but the writing was as good and as enjoyable and I loved how everything
came together in the end. I did not like each story equally, but most of them
were very good. On the whole I can say I quite enjoyed The imperfectionists and I am looking forward to Tom Rachman’s next book.
Published
in 2010
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